Catalytic Potential of a New Polymer-Anchored Multisite Phase Transfer Catalyst in the Dichlorocarbene Addition to Indene

The popularity of triphase catalysis in industries is due to straightforward catalyst recovery from reaction mixture. In this work we report a facile preparation a new polymer-anchored multisite phase transfer catalyst viz., polymer-anchored-2-benzyl-2-phenyl-1,3-bis(triethylmethylene ammonium chloride) (PABPBTAC) using polystyrene-based cross-linked beads. In order to ascertain the catalytic efficiency of the new heterogeneous catalyst, we studied its catalytic activity in the conversion of indene into dichlorocyclopropyl indene using chloroform and sodium hydroxide. Comparative catalytic efficiency of the new polymer-anchored multisite phase transfer catalyst with polymer-supported single site onium salts revealed that the new heterogeneous phase transfer catalyst is highly active than others. Further, from the influence of variation of experimental parameters, such as [substrate], [catalyst], [NaOH], stirring speed and temperature on indene conversion was studied in detail.